Tarpitting

Tarpitting is a cybersecurity technique used to slow down the spread of malicious activity, like spam or malware, by deliberately delaying responses to certain network connections. When a suspicious or potentially harmful connection is detected, a tarpitting system intentionally responds very slowly or intermittently, making it costly and time-consuming for attackers to send large amounts of data or establish control. This discourages and hampers their efforts without necessarily blocking their access entirely, helping protect networks while allowing legitimate traffic to proceed normally.